Early detection vital aspect of beating breast cancer
Love discusses treatment options, research at lecture
By Ben Gilmore
Buoyed by the results of current research, UCLA Dr. Susan Love
said in a lecture Tuesday that the future possibility of
eradicating breast cancer is promising.
Her speech was part of "Insights into Cancer," a series at
UCLA’s Rhonda Fleming Mann Resource Center for Women with Cancer
which deals with medical and social aspects of women’s cancer.
"I’m very optimistic. We’re working in an exciting time for
cancer research. The new age of molecular genetics is almost upon
us," she said.
Love, director of the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center, referred to
advances such as the recent isolation of one of the five genes
triggering breast cancer. With this discovery, a simple blood test
could screen for the gene and isolate some high-risk individuals at
very early ages.
Gene therapy, a revolutionary technique in which doctors replace
the deadly gene with a normal gene, could then treat such patients,
she said.
Another promising study Love cited studied hormone levels of
women with breast cancer. Adjusting the amount of estrogen in
women’s bodies may cause cancerous cells to become dormant for long
periods of time.
These radical new treatments could make mastectomies Â
operations where one or both of a patient’s breasts are removed
 and chemotherapy obsolete, Love said.
Despite the recent medical advances, a major obstacle to
eradicating breast cancer is to get women of all socioeconomic
groups proper diagnosis and treatment.
Some experts feel the most important goal is narrowing the gap
in care between rich and poor patients. Although in most of the
United States the death rate from breast cancer for
African-American women is lower than the rate for the general
female population, the opposite is true in Los Angeles county.
Peter Wakamatsu, a research analyst with the Los Angeles County
Health Department, attributes this exception to socioeconomic
factors.
"Some lady in South Central: She’s worried about putting food on
the table. She doesn’t have a regular doctor or time to get a
mammogram. By the time she notices the lump on her breast, her days
are numbered. It’s only the people with money who can get diagnosed
in time," he said.
Fortunately, some agencies have programs aimed at needy breast
cancer patients.
The Center for Disease Control, for example, funds agencies such
as the Venice Family Clinic so that its doctors can refer
low-income patients to free mammograms, according to Dr. Susan
Fleishman, the clinic’s director.
Wakamatsu also noted Watts’ Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital’s
effort to get more African-American women informed about breast
cancer and in for mammograms.
Despite efforts to change the disparity, Wakamatsu asserted that
people fighting breast cancer need to focus more on providing care
to needy people than on highly specific research.
"Recently there’s been a lot of research focusing on pesticides
as carcinogens. But why give millions of dollars to that when it
might only affect 3 percent of breast cancer cases?" Wakamatsu
asked.
But Love speculated that research of this type will yield
positive results for cancer treatment.
"I think within five to 10 years, I won’t be doing breast cancer
surgeries. I think we’ll say, ‘Do you believe we used to do that?’"
she said.
However, her goal of eradicating breast cancer can come about
only if women make their opinions heard.
"It’s going to happen sooner or later if we all yell and scream.
We can’t sit back and be good little girls," she said.
The center’s next series lecture will center on nutrition and
cancer.